Valencia mother flees after giving birth to prevent social services from taking her baby away

The woman had been under the supervision of social services and had given birth at a private hospital after allegedly using another woman's identity when she was admitted.

The mother and the baby's father were arrested 18 days later after National Police investigators tracked them to a flat in Valencia, where they had been hiding with the newborn.

The regional government of Valenciana has now taken the baby, who is less than a month old, into emergency care, as it had previously done with her two-year-old sister.

Security camera footage from the Quirón hospital in Valencia shows the mother being pushed out of the hospital in a wheelchair by her partner, the baby's father, while holding the newborn in her arms.

According to investigators, she had gone to the hospital under a false name because she knew that Social Services were likely to take the baby into care, as they had done with her first daughter after she tested positive for cannabis.

The couple allegedly left the hospital with help from other relatives, who are also under investigation, and remained in hiding with the baby for more than two weeks.

The investigation by the National Police's juvenile group (GRUME) involved surveillance operations and telephone intercepts. It began after social services raised the alarm over concerns for the newborn's health and the possibility that she could be left without adequate care.

Police have charged the parents with child abandonment after allegedly putting their newborn daughter's life, health and physical wellbeing at risk by taking her from hospital before she had been medically discharged and before the necessary tests had been carried out.

They also face allegations of document fraud and identity theft after the mother allegedly gave a false name and assumed another woman's identity when she was admitted to the hospital.

However, sources told SUR that despite hiding from the authorities and remaining inside the small flat in Valencia's l'Amistat area, the parents had provided the baby with everything she needed during the 18 days. Relatives allegedly helped them by bringing food, nappies and other supplies for the newborn.

It was the couple's efforts to care for the baby, together with their shopping and home deliveries, that eventually helped investigators locate them.

The couple relied on the maternal grandfather to bring them supplies. According to police surveillance, he would arrive carrying shopping bags and later take the rubbish downstairs. When investigators searched a bin after he had thrown away one of the bags, they found used nappies inside.

Investigators also intercepted telephone conversations between the paternal grandmother and her son. Both parents had discarded their own mobile phones after fleeing the hospital, but investigators asked the investigating judge to extend the telephone surveillance to other members of the family after becoming convinced that relatives were helping the couple evade the authorities.

The priority, according to the investigators, was to locate the newborn and ensure her safety.

As well as receiving supplies from the maternal grandfather, who is also under investigation, the fugitives placed deliveries from supermarkets and pharmacies under a false name. They gave different addresses, but all the deliveries were to the same apartment block where they were hiding, in a flat owned by the baby's father's brother.

They reportedly told delivery drivers that the doorbell was not working, allowing them to leave the orders outside the flat so the couple could collect them without being seen.

The family had already been under Social Services supervision for more than two years.

In May 2024, the couple had another daughter. After the baby tested positive for cannabis, the regional authorities took her into care.

When social services learned that the mother was pregnant again, they issued a hospital alert at the end of July over the potential risk of the newborn being left without adequate care.

The mother had been receiving pregnancy care at Casa de la Salud. However, allegedly seeking to avoid this monitoring, she went to another hospital on Avenida Blasco Ibáñez in Valencia on 15 August to give birth.

She allegedly used the name and identity number (DNI) of another woman when she was admitted. That woman had reportedly previously reported her identity documents stolen.

The father was already wanted on a warrant for his arrest and imprisonment, issued in April in connection with another offence. He had also been subject to a restraining order preventing him from approaching the mother until January.

The day after giving birth, before hospital staff had discharged either the mother or the newborn, the woman left the hospital with the baby and her partner.

A white Peugeot 208 was waiting outside. It was driven by another alleged accomplice, believed to be the baby's father's brother.

Investigators believe the brother had found the couple a flat after allegedly forcing its previous occupant out on the same day the parents disappeared.

The couple's main aim in fleeing was allegedly to prevent social services from taking their newborn daughter into care. The father's existing legal problems also gave him another reason to avoid the authorities.

He had been wanted since April in connection with another offence and had previously been subject to a restraining order preventing him from approaching his two-year-old daughter and his partner.

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